Trace-fasteiter



O. SHEARER.

TRACE FASTENER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.I2,1919.

1,324,414. Patented Dec. 9,1919.

f; ken. 3'0 r oscan sHEAaEa, or WA LQA warm, wasnmeron.

zrRACE-rAsrENER.

To all whom it may concern; r

Be it known that I, OSCAR SHEARER, a

citizen of the United States, residing .at

\Valla Walla, in the county,of.-Walla /Valla and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trace- Fasteners, of which the following is a speci-' fication. 1

This invention relates to carriages and wagons, and more especially. to whiflietree hooks; andthe same consists of a trace fastener which may be described as having a hooked end but in reality no bill liable to catch onto or into extraneous objects. Therefore the primary object of the invention may be said to be to do away with an objection to the form of trace hooks which is well known to men whose duties require their use.

A secondary object is to produce fastener with which any of the links in or the ring at the end of the short stretch of chain usually employed on a trace may be engaged quickly and reliably, yet without necessarily passing the link or ring over any hook.

Another object is the production of a trace fastener of this kind from which the trace will not be accidentally disengaged, and which by its structure will outlast the hooks now so commonly used.

With these and other objects in view, the

invention consists broadly in the employ-' ment of a key-hole loop Whose eye end is at the rear and whose smaller or slotted end leads horizontally forward therefrom and is bent downward more or less abruptly. Details of the preferred construction of the invention are set forth below. In the drawings- Flgure l is a plan v1ew of a whiflietree equipped with these fasteners, showing the.

chain engaged with one of them.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view showing one fastener.

Figs. 3 and 4 are diagrams to be referred to hereinafter.

Traces are sometimes entirely of chains, but more often a trace comprises a strap or tug and a short stretch of chain at its rear.

end. We are interested only with the links L of such chain, the same usually having a ring R at its rear end and possibly having a swivel S within its length near said ring. The whifiletree may have the usual wooden body W cut off abruptly or otherwise at lts Specification of letters Patent. Patented D ed,

Application filed August 12, 1919. Serial No. 317,000.

center with. any

. necting the swingletree to an evener bar or doubletree.

a trace ends at E, and the same provided at its suitable means M for con- No novelty is claimed for'the parts thus far mentioned.

Coming now to the present invention, the I numeral 1 designates a strip or strap of.

metal or perhaps a rod lying along and possibly embedded in the rear edge offithebodyWV, and if it extends the-entire length of thesame as shown it willadd strength thereto. At each end of the body the rod is :bowed the extremity E to produce'an eye 3-, and

at 5, inward on a line parallel with the whifiletree at 6, upward at 15 complementing the stretch 5, horizontally rearward at 14 complementing the stretch 4, and'thus producing anarrowed portion or slot 13 forat 2 outward beyond and;around thence it is carried forward at 4, downward v ward of the eye 3; and atthe rear end of the stretch 14 the metal element is bent abruptly at 12, and carried inward along the front edge of the body W, the front and rear stretchesll and 1 being connected with the body or rivets 10- which'are' shown as. passing completely through the body and both said stretches. Thereby is produced a loop havby any suitablemeanssuch as bolts ing substantially a key-hole opening innit.

Referring to the diagrammatic Figs. 3 and 4, the eye end of this opening is shown at 3 and is surrounded entirely by metal excepting that the extremity E forms one side thereof, and in Fig. 4 this extremity E is.v

dished a little so that the eye is nearly round. The narrower end or'slot 13 of'the key-hole opening extends forward from the eye end, and in eflect its side bars are bent downward on the dotted line so that, as seen in Fig. 4, a portion of the key-hole opening still stands horizontal but the extreme front end of its slot is dropped on might be said to stand vertical.

A whiflletree with this trace fastener obviously has no real hook at either end. While the front end of the loop is dropped or may be said to be hooked, its extremity 6 is bent and rounded so that it entangles nothing, and especially is this true because it projects downward instead of upward.

The outward bow at 2 directs away from the loop objects which might ordinarily be come entangled with it. The connection of the two stretches 1 and 11 with each other b through bolts or rivets ,19 increases the strength of the whifiietree to a greater degree than the bolt holes weaken it. To engage a trace chain with this loop, its ring is dropped through the bow 2 so that the link next the ring may stand on edge within the front end 13 of the slot as seen in Fig. 1.

If the trace is to be tightened, this link is lifted out of the position there shown and dropped through the eye, the chain turned a quarter revolution, and thenext link disposed as the last link is herein shown, the last link then taking the position of the'ring Rand the ring hanging a little lower. It is quite possible that the swivel S could be dropped into the hooked front end of the loop, even without destroying its swiveling functions; and on occasions it is possible to carrythe ring R forward and upward and string the chain through it so that in efi'ect the chain is given a half hit-ch around the bend 6 of the loop. It is possible also to connect with this loop a trace or a trace chain having the ordinary cross bar or T- shaped link at its extremity, although for the purpose of avoiding angles, hooks, and abrupt ends,-I would prefer to use a trace chain made up of links, with or without the ring at the extremity as shown.

Having .thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. A trace fastener consistingof a keyhole loop carried by the whililetree with its smaller end extending forward therefrom and bent downward.

2. A trace fastener consisting of a keyhole loop carried by the whiffletree with its major portion standing in a substantially horizontal plane and the front part of its smaller e'nd bent into a substantially vertical plane.

3. A trace fastener consisting of a. keyhole loop carried by the whifiletree with its eye end at the end of such whifiletree and its smaller end extending horizontally forward and then bent downward.

4. A whifiletree; and a" rod secured to and bowed at the end of the whiffletre'e to form and rearward to produce a slot narrower than said eye, and then bent and secured along the front edge of said whiffletree.

6. The combination with the body of a whiitietree; of a rod extending along its rear edge, bowed to form an eye at the end of the body, carried thence forward, downward, inward parallel with the whiflietree, upward, and rearward to produce a slot narrower than said eye, and then carried inward along the front of said body; and rivets passing edgewise through the body and through the front and rear stretches of said rod, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

7 OSCAR SHEARER. [11. SQ 

